The 2016 Rio Olympics came to a close today with the US leading with 121 medals, China following with 70 and Britain with 67. There is an informative interactive graph published on the New York Times that indicates all of the winnings. Here at Gnome, we want to celebrate the end of the Olympics by highlighting professional athletes who ended their sports career and began a career in the arts:

Desmond Mason

Desmond Mason, Former NBA basketball player

After a 10-year career as a professional basketball player in the NBA, Desmond Mason is now focused on his passion for creating art. The foundation for Mason’s career in the arts was laid when he attended Oklahoma State University on a basketball scholarship. He majored in studio art where he was able to expand his knowledge of art history and further develop his technical skills in painting and drawing.

In 2000, he was drafted by the Seattle Supersonics with the 17th pick of the NBA draft’s first round. In 2001, he became the first Seattle player in franchise history to win the NBA Slam Dunk Contest. During the ten years Mason played in the NBA, he played for Seattle, the Milwaukee Bucks, New Orleans Hornets, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Sacramento Kings.

Ryan McCann

Ryan McCann, former Quarterback for the UCLA Bruins and Cincinnati Bengals.

Ryan McCann is a former Quarterback for the UCLA Bruins and Cincinnati Bengals. When his career was cut short due to a shoulder injury he started lighting things on fire. Since his immersion into the art world, Ryan has created a niche for himself as a mixed media pyrographer, using a blowtorch to create the majority of the image. He then combines this with oil and acrylic paints to create an image that twists pop culture into communicating the truth. Often employing satirical text laid across the image, McCann challenges the complacent response to a heavily circulated image by violating its physical continuity (or how it first appeared without noticeable change to its composition). What’s more, the act of burning wood becomes a constructive gesture. In adding layers of color to his images, McCann makes the experience of viewing the work similar to that of reading a graphic novel: colors convey emotional gradients and text becomes the accompaniment.

Aaron Maybin

Aaron Maybin, former American and Canadian football linebacker in the NFL and CFL.

Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao, PhD student at MIT, created this wearable piece of technology; it’s called the Duoskin, and it’s a gold leaf temporary tattoo that can be used as a touchscreen. Her inspiration? Street fashion in Taiwan.

Kao says that metallic jewelry-like temporary tattoos are a growing trend, providing a great opportunity for creating functional fashion. She notes that in Taiwan, there’s a “huge culture” of cosmetics and street fashion, which is affordable and accessible enough that “you can very easily change and edit your appearance whenever you want.” The DuoSkin team wanted to achieve the same thing with their technological twist on the tattoo trend.

This November, the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) presents, Shoes: Pleasure and Pain, an exhibition that explores the creativity of footwear from around the globe. Featuring more than 300 pairs of shoes ranging from an ancient Egyptian sandal decorated in pure gold leaf to futuristic-looking shoes created on a 3D printer, the exhibition considers the cultural significance and transformative capacity of shoes. Examples from famous shoe collectors and celebrities are shown alongside a dazzling range of historic shoes, many of which have not been displayed before. Organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the exhibition will make its U.S. debut at PEM on November 19.